On the surface, it appears that JT did forward the emails and that he is trying to take the blame on himself rather than have the school take the hit with the dreaded-quickly-becoming-cliche "loss of institutional control" designation.
This would mean that JT forwarded the emails to Smith or Compliance, someone told him to keep it under wraps, they all keep it secret through January until an underling finds the emails and forces them to self report, otherwise known as "confessing". Under this scenario, JT, Smith and possibly Gee together have been committing a serious violation since April. They decide to band together, JT takes the heat with Smith and Gee censuring him, keeping him and throwing their full support behind him. It does whiff of this I admit.
It could be that these guys are that arrogant as to believe that this is a game and that OSU can skirt around this mess. Gee's remarks about the Little Sisters of the Poor sure make it seem like they are brash and brazen and their levity during the press conference sure made it seem like Smith and Gee view this as a game and not a serious matter.
As I ponder this more, it does seem to me that their hubris may have known no bounds and they think they can play brinkmanship with the NCAA. Or their pride simply blinds them to the reality at hand and made them continue to make bad decisions from day one.
I cannot believe though that these three guys are collectively this dumb. Just can't. Maybe this is an example of Vietnam-like "groupthink" by the leaders in charge whereby they each keep reaffirming each others' bad decisions, but I don't think so. There is simply too much at stake professionally for any of these guys to support each other in covering up a conspiracy. Eventually one will defect and throw the rest under the bus. That hasn't happened yet.
Another reason to discount this theory is that they did hire a consulting company to help them determine the right level of sanctions based on precedent (nonsequiter, it's really sad when consulting companies exist for reasons like this). For Utah's scenario to be true, it means that the consulting company is also this dumb in not seeing what is going on at OSU, agreeing to take the job of helping a death row inmate and recommending a laughable punishment based on the crime. Their company's reputation is also at stake so I am also not sure I am buying this.
So let's say the disclosed scenario is closer to the truth and JT acted alone. He failed to notify and lied in order to cheat. Come on, how many of us really, really, honest-to-God believe that Jim Tressel would cheat in such a brazen, emboldened way? Sorry guys, I don't believe it. I do think he is/has been lying but not for the reasons that everyone thinks.
Which leads me back to the reasons that JT cited for not saying anything: fear of players getting hurt, not intervening in a Federal investigation, etc. Yeah, in hindsight these all seem pretty flimsy reasons to not seek help. Especially to me. I grew in a middle class neighborhood and have had desk jobs all my life. I have a BA and and MA and have been trained in logic and vertical thinking. But when I get outside of my own box so to speak, apply some lateral thinking or shift my perspective and reason from new assumptions, I cannot deny the plausibility that these motivations and fears were real in JT's mind and that is why he did what he did. Maybe he really believed and believes that not saying anything was the morally superior and ethical thing to do. We cannot discount this so flippantly as so many are prone to.
I don't deal with kids who probably at some point have experienced drugs, drug-related deaths, guns, violence, etc. in the course of their childhood as many football players do. So it is entirely possible that this paradigm overrode the other one that usually guides his behavior, that being abiding by the law and being a "do gooder." It is entirely reasonable to believe that he thought that he was doing more good by not taking it to the NCAA. People who discount this I think are trapped in an insular and subjective view of what the world is really like.
So again, do you really believe that Jim Tressel is this dumb or this selfish? I for one, do not.
He did break NCAA rules and so, like Socrates or Jesus, he should willingly accept the decision of the Sanhedrin, I mean NCAA, and drink whatever poison they give him.
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